Nightfire

Re: Vandaleur Twins

That's true it is always up to the GM, although since many heroes, villains and the like are "canon" straight, it would be nice if a few were also by canon, not straight. After all it seems being open minded (or perhaps progressive might be a better word) has helped Bioware's bottom line (Dragons Age) why not true RPGs? It doesn't have to be everyone, just a character who actually isn't "open to interpretation" but definitively gay preferably without stereotypes.

Re: Vandaleur Twins

In the context of this thread' date=' "Eww, TMI!"[/quote']

 

LOL. I'd never actually uses the twins no matter what their composition. I only read the articles

Re: Vandaleur Twins

Thank you, I had never known there was a fourth edition version of Arcane Adversaries, or thor Anais was a girl's name. My curiosity has been sated.

I was wondering does anyone know why Anais was changed from a male fraternal twins in Arcane Adversaries to a female in twin in Champions Villains vol2. I thought it was bold move on Hero Games' part to not only feature two gay characters but to have them as villains and incestuous to boot. To change Anais to a woman is a step in the wrong direction, having the unfortunate implication that gay characters can not be presented while maintaining the much more controversial incestuous relationship. I was just wondering others thoughts on the matter.

Re: Superheroic Planets

Don't forget the Titans, a world of Eternals offshoots.

 

How about a world with little protection from its sun's radiation, where the inhabitants "eat" by absorbing and storing radiant energy directly. Some have learned to redirect this energy outward from their bodies as destructive blasts, piercing beams, blinding flares, etc.

*Looks around embarrassed* I have a whole galaxy where star systems born in a particular stellar nursery produce races who largely developed abilities based on the high radiation principle, in addition to what you mention they often fly, manipulate matter can travel through space unaided. For some reason the rest of the Universe works to keep their population numbers low.

Conversely their is another planet where their only ability is to regenerate their reproductive organ and can live 250 years, they have settled their entire galaxy and and parts of others. They have formed Genocidal Cults in the belief their creator will kill 74% of their race to control their population problems. No, birth control does not work for them. Their super power is reproduction at all costs.

Twilight asked me to warn everyone to be careful of Soft Veteran Virus, he was attempting to use the Champions Online Wiki when it first manifested, he is unsure if it was a direct result of something on the wiki, but urges caution.

Apparently it is a fairly new virus, here is the information I was able to find on the subject.

SoftVeteran is a rogue security application, also known as a fake antivirus program. SoftVeteran is a clone of SafetyKeeper, which is also a fake antivirus program. SoftVeteran hopes to trick the user into thinking that it is a real program. SoftVeteran hopes to scare the user into purchasing the program by displaying fake virus scan results. SoftVeteran is fake and doesn’t work.

SoftVeteran will tell the user that their computer is infected and will use tactics to convince the user to purchase it. It will also use other tactics, such as the use of pop ups to warn the user. However, the program itself doesn’t work to remove viruses. It has a website which it uses to advertise the fake program.

Common symptoms and characteristics of SoftVeteran and other rogue security programs include:

1. SoftVeteran is generally installed without user permission through a trojan horse.

2. SoftVeteran uses pop ups and fake virus scans to scare the user.

3. SoftVeteran website is unprofessional, with fake testimonials and fake awards.

4. The payment website for SoftVeteran looks suspicious.

5. Various antivirus and system programs on the user’s computer will stop functioning.

Re: Heroes

Then please explain any single film ever shown as part of Scinema Saturday.

Unfortunately I don't know what Scinema Saturday is. I just know that from what I have seen of more recent Sci Fi on TV, they seem to be handled more intelligently. Example - The learning curve for powered individuals on shows like Bionic Woman, Smallville, Charmed and the like is short. When The Greastest American Hero came was on he never got the hang of his powers even though he used them all the time. The back ground characters more readily understand the concepts behind unusual events that happen around them, even if they did not previously believe such things were actually possible.

Basically because most people are familiar with most form concepts Science Fiction, characters within such shows have to equally possess such knowledge and act accordingly.

Re: Politics or not

My campaign world no longer resembles the real world at all. There are only six super nations and some holdouts: The USAC (United States and Canada) which controls the Carribbean and all Pacific Islands held by the US), The Asian Commonwealth, European Union, United Federation of the Southern Hemisphere, Russia and the Kingdoms of Magic.

These supernations came about by the actions of the players/GM interference in various politics, six alien invasions, a world wide technology crash (not the Y2K bug), and manueverings during the reconstruction. Sometimes politics were neglible background, and other times center stage. I never did powered registration plot lines, because superpowers and magic had been around since the dawn of history and so most countries legislated their penalties for their misuse in ancient times into the present.

The complexities of these politics are too numerous to list, and as players characters matured they even too on political roles. Twice now PC have run in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections and while they have not won they have won Senatorial and Governor positions, or have been appointed to cabinet posts. The EU is entirely PC controlled having though the course of play returned to Constitutional Monarchies. There are even complex interactions between nations and various alien races.

I think that if the GM and Players are mature about it politics can completely enrich a game, providing lots of plot lines, of course if not done properly it could be a disaster.

Re: Is it really so wrong?

I think every once in a while it is good to have an odd ball villian or hero who comes straight out of Toy R Us or some place similar. Three examples from my decades long game were

The Liquidator - a water emlemental who looked and behaved like the character from Darkwing Duck

A reality manipulator had pikachu and invisible weiner dog called 'Not There' as familiars

The Toy Maker - A villian who stole gems to power his minature space ships i.e USS Enterprise, Millenium Falcon and Battlestar Galactica.

Re: Heroes

Hmm' date=' how long before the other creators in Hollywood get together and straighten this guy out? "Fool, we don't give the viewers what they want -- we do what [b']we[/b] want! Then we tell the viewers that it's what they really wanted, all along!"

I dunno, I think writers are more cognizant about paying attention to their fan base, especially in the sci fi arena where people are more likely topoint out plot weaknesses.

Re: WWYCD: Dr. Destroyer vs Takofanes

Hey, isn't one thread on the longest running battle in history enough

But since it is here, I would have to help Doctor Drakken . . .Ummm I mean Destroyer to defeat Takofanes. They may both look like moldy corpses, but at least the good Doctor wants people in his world.

In a previous post you stated that for a - Suppress 10d6 to STUN, Continuous, costs 0 END - that additional stun would be surpressed. Would it not mean instead that either the same level of supression would be applied ad nauseum until the dispel condition was met or alternately that each phase a new roll would be made. The effect of the latter would mean perhaps someone who was drugged, and was fading in and out of consciousness?

Re: Heroes

For my two cents I love Heroes. First of all I am an absolute power junky (I missed a lot of Smallville and what could catch made little sense). Secondly it reminds me of Charmed with out the demons, these people are utterly distracted by thier real lives -- imagine that. Also I would love to marry Mohinder, but that is just me.

I think I can shed some light on Parkman though, as a fellow Dyslexic individual I understand why sometimes he has no problems with comprehending things and other times does not. Most people born in the sixties or earlier had to learn to over come our dyslexia on our own, so it is actually a discipline to correctly interpret things when we read. Stress and fatigue erode this disicpline so the more stressed he becomes the harder it is to correctly read.

One sour note for me is Hiro in the past, I love time traveling stories, but I just hope that he does not become his own childhood idol that would be really annoying.

Re: Anyone here find a use for Takofanes yet?

Somone summoned Takofanes into my game world, but only had the body of a sixth year old available, so currently he is attending elementary school, while he plots his plans to take over the world. So while he is still the same monsterously powerful lich, he must, because of the nature of the magic that summoned him, must obey his parents, teachers and other authority figures.

Re: Wuxia abilities

17) Shouting. A master can make himself heard from far away, up to miles in some cases. Some masters such as Xie Xun have developed this ability to the point where they can use it as an attack and wipe out hordes of lesser fighters in a radius around him.

As a clarification of this ability Penetrating Voice - The use of inner power to have your voice penetrate even through layers of stone. Example. Li Qiu Shi used her voice to torment Tian Xian Tong Lao and Xhu Zhu who were in the third ice cellar deep below Li Qiu Shi's Castle. She was not only heard, but was capable of breaking the Inner Power induced Trance of Tian Xian Tong Lao and drove Xhu Zhu mad at the same time.

Re: Why Kill At All?

I run a very involved campaign where most villians like heroes evolve, gaining experience, and moving through the 'weight" classes. As a consequence of this, Heroes and Villians get to know each other. The Heroes try to sway the villians to the good side, though the insidious act to getting to know them, and test their convicitons. Some reform, so go to jail, and some just keeep getting wrose and worst. When they cross the line (mass murder and the like) then the gloves come off.

To date only a small handful of villians have been so monsterous as to "need killin".

Both sides call it the game. It is "okay" for villians to commit crimes, the heres try to capute them. the villains try desperately to avoid this bacause villians in the campaign serve real prision sentence, not revoling door method of comic books. I'm creative enough to make new villians,

Villians are "allowed" to try to kill heroes. 99% of the time they fail, Heroes are notoriously hard to kill. The Heroes are allowed to beat the stuffing out of the villians proportional to the closeness to success. If the Villians actually succed then the heroes friends are allowed to retailiate, but must yield if the villian begs for mercy.

The villians are "Allowed" to kidnaap DNPC andloved ones, after all that's part of the convention. But if they actually defile said persons the Hero is allowed ti retaliate to the full exent that their psych lims allow.

Some villians are so nasty that even other villians will join in dispatching them. It is one thing to serve an evil elder god of chaos, it is is another matter altogether to actually slaughter 10,000 peole to that entity.

Re: Alpha Male Contest

Theres too much nuance in these deliberations. Your making this contest Kerryesque. Make it simple. Last superhero standing is my motto. Superheros are unique in their powers and abilities. Any types of rules will tend to favor one over the other. I say' date=' no killing, but everything else is ok. Basically no holds barred. Let the best superhero win. Power is power, whether summoned or brute physical strength or whatever. [/quote']

 

But from the very being, I stated that that there were some kind of rules underwhich the combatants functioned. Granted, people have tried to nuance the arguements for or against summoning being a viable power/weapon, but the one thing that I had pointed out at the beginning was that Last Man standing does not make that person the victor of the alpha male fight. Whether this is for psychological/sociological or some other reason, the fact remains that there are rules by which the battle is supposed to take place, and cheating naegates the win.

Re: Alpha Male Contest

One is a 'puppet'' date=' the other is a 'robot'.[/quote']

 

 

The more I follow this thread, which I started, the more I see a crucial element of the whole Alpha Male contest. It's not just that the outsiders must agree, the combtants must also. It seems the summon camp (S) believes that their greatest strength is to summon, that it is a valid means of winning and the Power within camp (PWI) scoffs at the idea. so the resolution is for each to beath the other at his own game. The "S" must bring fouth things with the raw inner power they lack (or are reluctant to weild) to overwhelm the "PWI" who will simply have to smackdown everything the summon whips up (if possible after whipping the stuffing out of the summoner first). In other words, Take out the summoner, and then deal with the summoned, if possible, or beat the summoned with summoner. Either way works.

Re: Alpha Male Contest

 

I fail to see the difference. Summon Elemental and Creeping Doom both call other beings from elsewhere to aid the caster in battle. The intelligence issue is irrelevant. Suppose the caster Summoned a Golem. Somehow I think you would disqualify the Golem even though it has no intelligence.

 

As for an example of a superhero who summons, Aquaman. He may be a lesser hero, but he certainly isn't a fringe hero.

Actually, Aquaman while enjoying name recognition is very much a fringe character. He has naver enjoyed the full respect his colleagues have. Cartoon Network has made him the butt of many jokes because of his ability to talk to and summon fish. Even in the Justice League Cartoon, Wonder Woman belittles him because in their battle he summoned sea creatures to help defeat her, so even in Amazon Society (i.e. where women rule) he is seen as weaker for having summoned. In the battle between himself and Namor in the Amalgam universe, they are both Sea Kings but Aquaman acknowledged that he was cheating by summoning a whale to pin Namor.

Perhaps he was a poor choice to defend the summoners.

Re: Alpha Male Contest

Interesting! Social counter-evolution in action. So you are saying that Alpha Male (primitive man) has built a social system based on physical prowess to protect himself for the emergence of the Omega Male (evolved man). That the rules of social superiority are engineered to reenforce Alpha Male egotism and to suppress eventual dawning of Omega Male mastery.

 

This is to say, that someone like Bug Master, is socially inferior to The Rock because The Rock can punch Bug Master out with his fists while all that the Bug Master can do against The Rock is summon a billion killer bees and sting him to death.

 

 

.

Omega male, I like that, The fact that sports draw more spectators than chess matches suggests that the Omega male is no where near ascendancy. We're still moved more by aderenaline than by beta waves.

Re: Alpha Male Contest

The important thing to understand about alpha male contests is that the group decides the rules of engagement. To win the contest, the alpha male needs to win by the rules that the group sets. These rules are usually different to what is acceptable to a fight with an opponent outside the group. Sociologist call these two types of contests

 

**Snipp**

 

How does this apply to a contest between Alpha Males in the super world? Well, what powers that are acceptable to use is determined by the group. Within a superteam they are unlikely to permit lethal attacks to determine the leader. They may permit the full use of their powers, as long as they are not dangerous. Within a villain organisation it may have different rules. A public battle between two rival heroes to show who is the best is making the general public and media the group. Most likely, any power that can be considered sneaky or deceptive will be disapproved of. Western society has strong echoes of the Iliad even today.

Wow, you articulated my point better than I could. I would imagine in a fantasy mage battle summoners would be top dogs because magic is a sighn of prowess, a summon can fight a longer stronger battle, because less of his personal stength is needed to produce results. But Mages strength comes from their knowledge and application of power. Their contest would be quite different.

Re: Alpha Male Contest

No' date=' then you're one member of the baddest gang in school. You, yourself have no legitimate claim to being the baddest kid in school by yourself.[/quote']

 

 

Exactly, if Joe Average kicks the stuffing out of the leader of said gang, he gains the rep of top dog without having to slam the whole gang. If someone helps him then he hasn't proven satisfactorily that he's top dog.

 

I'll grant that all alpha male fights are situation, but I still contend, iof you have to summon help "Magical beasts, your dog, or your big sister, then whter you winf the fight or not, you are not really the alpha male. You and your Magic Beast, you and your dog, or your big sister is the Alpha.

 

There are countless movies, books and comics where the contender insists that he has to go the final fight alone, because he knows that the victory doesn't count if its many on one.

Re: Alpha Male Contest

Add to this, real world Alpha Male contests are situational. I think you can probably guess the age and employment situation of the posters by their responses to this question.

 

Any my age and profession would be? And don't peak at my profile. You said guess

Re: Alpha Male Contest

Add to this, real world Alpha Male contests are situational. I think you can probably guess the age and employment situation of the posters by their responses to this question.

 

I'm fairly certain that I can physically beat up any male in my office. This would not make me the Alpha of the office; it would get me fired and jailed. In the real world prison system (as opposed to the movies), my ability to defeat individual prisoners in HTH would not make me the alpha of the cell block, though it might help. The Alpha of the cell block would be the prisoner who could get other prisoners to obey his order to hold me down and, well, make me really wish that I had not attempted to establish my office Alpha status Fight Club style.

 

The Alpha Male is the male who leads. Schoolyard rules do have meaning in context, but only in context.

But if an alpha male contest comes up amongst supers it is a chest beating scenario. IF the leader is chosen through peaceful means, that's called and election, and persuasion (or intimidation) is the mechanism. It's true the Alpha-Male leads, but while I agree that the nature of the contest is situational, the situation in question is Superheroes, most times questions of leader ship are resolved in some civil manner, but the comic conventions say the stuffed shirts don't always talk: The Thing, The Hulk Green Arrow, Wolverine, sometimes Batman and always Lobo resort to the old fashion method of deciding who's the main man. Remember this is how supers (who really aren't worried about such namby pamby laws like Assault and BAttery) settle mano y mano issues.

Re: Alpha Male Contest

Alpha Male fights are usually dominance fights.

 

Whose on top. Not just who is bigger, faster, stronger, better .. but who can win.

 

You can go on about "fairness" and "one on one" .. The true Alpha Male is someone who knows what resources are available and how to use those resources to remain "on top"

 

You don't go telling Mafia Don's they're wimps because he knows Bruno The Butcher will reorganize people's internal organs for him instead of him doing it himself.

 

If the two competitors are of the same nature then it would be expect that they would use similar tactics - two bricks would most likely just go at pounding each other.

 

If the two competitors are not of the same nature then why would it be "unfair" for each to use their own powers/methods available to them.

 

Johnny Summoner is disqualified from Alpha Fights because his area of talent is calling forth Chthuloid Monsters instead of using brute force to pound the enemy?

 

That sounds silly to me. You're not testing Alpha Status anymore, you're making it some kind of macho cage match endurance fight fit for pay per view. wow - that's exciting and different.

 

In a fight for Alpha Status their are no rules, no fairness and no honor. There is only proving your are mightier/better than your opponent to obtain that top spot.

 

In a Duel, it's something different where you are testing specific skills set forth by each combatant.

 

Don't get the two mixed up. Or Bruno The Butcher might have to pay you a visit...

For humans in the 21st century being aplha male IS a macho cage match, look at professional wrestling, the guy who picks up the chair is the bad guy, even if he wins. If two superheroes are duking it out for supremacy there is a sort of school yard set of rules that they fight by. Granted you can get away with a lot of things, but somethings make you the loser, even if the other guy is bleed ing on the floor at battle's end. If one fighter were to whip out a can of pepper spray (ie summon) then he's whimping out. There is a classif fight between BAtman and Guy Gardner (Green Lantern). Granted with the Ring Guy could beat BAts 9 ways to sunday, but sense the strugle between them was a chest beating seesion Guy forwent the use of the ring believing that his physical prowess was more than Bats. Batman laid him out in one punch, because all things being equal ( No ring for Guy/No Utility Gadgets for Bats) Bataman was actually more the Alpha Male.

Mafia Don's having a guy wacked is not an Alpha Male fight, its an Alpha male having a Beta male, rubbing out a gamma male. From the Stand point of sociology, it is his right to not bother doing his own scut work.

The discovery channel had an excellent example of a pure Alpha male fight a few years ago. One prehistoric leader had some animal tooth that was a symbol of his leadership, on a particular hunting trip he lost the tooth, and a would be rival found it. The Rival now declared himself (sans actual words, of course) leader, but the leader beat him to death and took it back. Remember for the most part superheroes are more like the chest beater than they are like the mafia dons, they don't have proxies fight for them.